1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an apparatus for monitoring an athletic activity and more particularly to an apparatus for facilitating refereeing an athletic activity (e.g., an American football game).
2. Background of Related Art
Apparatuses mountable to the human body for monitoring an athletic activity, e.g., swimming, running, skiing, etc., are known. These apparatuses are useful as memory aids to check the athlete's performance or to improve the athlete's fitness in relation to his/her previous performance. They are also desirable to enhance the accuracy of the counting operation or to enhance the ability of the athlete to concentrate on other matters while maintaining an accurate count of the events or items. It is also desirable to maintain information concerning such events or items and their occurrences such as elapsed time between a particular sequence of events or items.
As an example of this type of apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,462 discloses an apparatus with a stop watch function that can be worn on one hand of the user, preferably an athlete, so as to be operable with one hand. The apparatus has a display face and an elongate button that can be actuated by the fingers of the same hand wearing the apparatus for controlling the functioning of the stop watch and the display on the display face. A two-piece strap secures the apparatus to the user's hand by having one piece bent in a U or J shaped around the hand between the forefinger and thumb and is connected to the second piece by a stud with the second piece being secured around the wrist by a buckle.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,960 discloses a waterproof apparatus that is useful in counting the number of laps completed by a swimmer, i..e, the event counter, or to monitor the time elapsed when swimming, i.e., the elapsed time counter, or both. The apparatus contains a display face in the form of a wristwatch worn on the user's wrist and a digit switch module connected to the user's index finger. The digit switch module controls the function of the elapsed time counter and event counter by pressing it against either the swimmer's thumb or an object. By pressing the digit switch module in the required manner, the operator will alternatively start and stop each counter. Other types of time-keeping/monitoring apparatus are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,387,437; 4,652,141; 4,731,766; and 4,991,156.